Spoonflower - my designs on fabric!

Lots of new, exciting things have been happening with my business recently!  One of my new ventures is opening a Spoonflower shop to sell my designs on fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap.   If you buy any of my designs in the shop they will be digitally printed and sent to you directly from Spoonflower.  The fabric can be bought as swatches, fat quarters or by the yard in a range of different types of fabric.

Before I could list any of my designs to sell I had to order some swatches to check everything looked ok.  Well, the swatches arrived yesterday (it took about 3 weeks for printing and standard delivery to the UK) and they look great!  So you can now buy fabric I have designed to use in your craft projects!

Here are some photos of the swatches I ordered…

This Citrus Fruits pattern was a design I entered into one of Spoonflower’s contests.

Ball Games pattern – lots of balls from different sports on a green background.

Brightly coloured butterflies, including the peacock, ulysses and monarch.

2 different designs featuring budgies – one has rows of blue, green and yellow budgerigars and the other has monochrome birds.

This Nautical, sailing boat themed design coordinates with the chevron pattern.

I have a collection of different designs from my cupcakes and roses themed set – including a pretty rose design, rows of cupcakes and a coordinating spotty pattern in green.  The spotty blue pattern is actually part of the budgie collection, but would go well with the rose design too.

Finally, there are 4 designs in my London Calling themed collection which features my illustrations of British post boxes and phone boxes, London soldiers, Buses and Taxis and a coordinating chevron pattern.

The London bus and taxi design in my shop is actually slightly different to the sample I had printed.  I decided that the buses and taxis looked a bit too close together, so have altered the design so that they are more spaced out.

You could use the fabric in all sorts of sewing projects - I think some of these designs would be great for making into cushion covers or purses.  If you buy any of these fabrics I would love to see what you make!

Ribbons and Bookmarks!

I've stocked up on ribbon so now I can finish off some more bookmarks.  With so many pretty ribbons it's hard to stop myself from buying the whole shop!  I was very good this time and only bought a few colours though :)

These bookmarks are now in my Etsy art shop...

Cyber Monday - Free Christmas Printables and Discount Code!

It's Cyber Monday and time for an early Christmas present to all my blog readers!  I have designed a sheet of Christmas gift tags featuring trees, holly and puddings - they are free for you to download and use in you Christmas crafting projects.

The photos show a few ideas of how you could use the tags to decorate Christmas gifts but you could also use them in cardmaking, scrapbooking and other craft projects.

Download and print the sheet from this album.  The sheet measures A5 (approx. 21 x 14.8cm - 8.3 x 5.8 inches).  You can print the sheet as many times as you like to use in your own personal projects - (please do not sell them in any form).  The copyright remains property of Hazel Fisher.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I am also holding a Cyber Monday sale - 10% off everything in my Etsy shops!  You can use this code XMAS2011 in both my art shop HazelFisherCreations and my craft supplies shop hfcSupplies.  The sale runs from today until Friday 2nd December.  Happy shopping! :)

At the fayre...

The Creations Christmas Craft Fayre on Saturday went well :)  Here are a couple of photos of my art and craft supplies stalls...

The rest of the photos from the day will be on the fayre's blog soon!

I really enjoyed the day - meeting and chatting with all the stallholders and seeing all the lovely handmade items on display.  It was also really nice meeting the public and being able to talk to my customers face to face.  I hope that everyone else enjoyed the day too!

Organising the fayre had taken over my time for the last few weeks and now it's time to get back to normal and catch up on all the jobs I had been ignoring.  (It's amazing how much bigger my art room looks now I've tidied it up!!) 

Clockwork Black-Headed Gull

Edwin Cracknell's recent trip to Hytheby proved a good source of inspiration for his latest mechanical creation.  Among the masts and rigging of the fishing boats tied to the quay lives the noisy Black-headed gull which has now been made into clockwork form...

This illustration (Clockwork Bird No.26) was actually inspired by my visit to Blakeney.  I think the shape of their beaks makes them look like they are smiling - did you know their scientific name means 'laughing gull'? The things you find out on Wikipedia!

You can buy prints of this illustration from my shop... www.hazelfishercreations.etsy.com

Francis Jennings

Francis Jennings is a man who likes to work with his hands as much as his mind and loves nothing better than to be exploring beneath the waves.  He is well respected as the leader of Hexley's Oceanography Centre and has contributed to scientific advances through his research of the sea.  As part of his research he has also developed a number of vessels including the whale submarine, D.O.R.A. and the 'Jennings Diving Bell'.

For a while I've had rough ideas for new Hexley illustrations floating around in my head but I've been finding it difficult to come up with a working image.  Finally I settled on this one of Francis Jennings.  It took a few days for me to draw in pencil and paint in watercolours, then it was finished digitally with some scanned textures.

Available in my Etsy shop to buy as a print very soon! :) www.hazelfishercreations.etsy.com

New Website

The internet can be a wonderful thing, a source of inspiration and edcuation, connecting people around the world.  But it can also be really annoying, especially when it doesn't work properly!
Recent problems with my internet connection have meant that I had to look for a new host for my website.  I am happy designing and building a website but all the differnet options for hosting are very confusing, then I tried Moonfruit.  So far it seems good and I have built a new site, similar to the old, but with a few changes (and some newer work on too).  In a few days time the old site will be gone and all traffic to http://www.hazelfisher.co.uk/ will be directed to http://www.hazelfishercreations.moonfruit.com/

New Cards

I've been neglecting my blog a bit recently so I thought that it was time I tried to catch up... here are some new cards I've had printed:

I always get a bit nervous sending work away to be printed because I'm never quite sure exactly how they will turn out but I was really pleased with these Hexley cards...

Handmade cards with papers, ribbons etc are great fun to make but they always take me so long to do, so I've been working on some new ideas for cards which are printed but could have hand finished elements too. The 'Wedding', 'Christmas' and 'Birthday' cards below were made by hand cutting letters from coloured card which I then decorated with pen and paint. The rest of the design was drawn in pen and painted in watercolours and finally I scanned the whole design and added a background digitally.

The ladybird card is a little different with the printed part of the card originally made from a combination of collage and watercolours. I've then added a ribbon, punched paper flower and brad to the finished card.

Hexley Transportation Centre - Vehicular Compendium

The Hexley transportation illustrations have had a make-over (and a couple of new additions too)! I liked the way the background turned out for my newest Clockwork Bird illustration, so added a similar 'aged' background to the transporation illustrations as well as a new title; 'Hexley Transportation Centre - Vehicular Compendium'.

Here are the updated versions of the Solo Dirigible Balloon, Land Strider and Steam Omni Carriage No.9...

And these are the new additions...

Steam Carriage No.3 - perfect for getting about town this carriage seats two people and has a storage compartment in the bonnet!

Balloon Carriage No.5 - this two seater carriage is ideal for exploring the countryside as with the larger tyres and balloon it can easily traverse most terrain!

It's great fun imagining vehicles for Hexley and to draw them too - I hope you like them!

These illustrations will all be appearing as 5x7 prints in my Etsy shop very soon. I also plan to make them available as 8x10 prints and greeting cards.

New Crafting Supplies Shop

Having spent many months debating whether to open a second Etsy shop I finally took the plunge last week! I decided to separate my crafting supplies from my artwork; my illustrations and artwork will remain in my original shop while supplies will be in my new shop - hfcSupplies (Hazel Fisher Creations ~ Supplies).

The new shop will stock buttons (mainly vintage), clock hands and crafting kits. For a time I will still have some supplies in my original shop but these will gradually be moved over to hfcSupplies as the shop in stocked.

It's exciting to be opening a new shop (a lot of work too!) - I hope that I've made the right decision to be running 2 shops on Etsy!

Manningtree High Street - new work

Since I've been having a go at a few different things recently I thought it was time I did some more drawings/ paintings of buildings. It's a subject I enjoy working on and I'm generally quite pleased with the results.

So I've been looking through my collection of photos for inspiration and decided to start with a painting of Manningtree. This was drawn in dip pen and peat brown ink, then painted in watercolours and Quink.

Manningtree is England's smallest town, located on the banks of the River Stour at the Essex/ Suffolk border. It is also a place which has provided me with a lot of inspiration for my drawings of Hexley street scenes!

I'm planning on making some more paintings on a similar theme - so keep an eye out for those. I expect there will be more old buildings as I much prefer drawing those to newer ones. Old buildings always seem so fascinating to me - much more character and I can't help but wonder about the people who used to live there and what the buildings have 'seen' over the centuries.

By the way, if you like this painting it is now available in my Etsy shop as a 5x7 print (if you would like another size please let me know). :)

New Work - Greeting Card designs

I haven't uploaded much new work recently but I have been working hard on some new greeting card designs. Here are just a few of my new illustrations (more can be seen on my website):

The designs are all painted in watercolours, I have also used a combination of pen, ink, acrylics and coloured pencils. I really enjoyed making these, it was a great opportunity to try some different ideas and experiment with making patterns.

Moo samples

A couple of weeks ago I sent off for a free pack of 10 business cards from Moo. I had each card printed with a different image and uploaded my own design for the backs (as they were free they also had the moo logo across the bottom). I tried the Moo Green card - 100% recycled, 350gsm. I was very pleased with the print quality and how quickly they arrived!


I've also been thinking of having some greetings cards printed with my work on, so have been doing a bit of research. I found Tesco photo printing to be the cheapest, so sent off for 4 cards to see what they were like. Although I was pleased with the quality of the print (and they arrived quickly) I did feel like you get what you pay for as the cards seemed very thin and I could only choose one image per set of cards.
Although Moo isn't the cheapest place, I was impressed with the quality of their cards and the ability of printing many different designs. So I contacted them to see if they could send me a sample card before I decided to order... and I received this exciting package a couple of days ago!

Inside were samples of greetings cards, postcards, business cards, mini moo cards and stickers :D

So very soon I am planning of having a set of greetings cards printed and maybe some stickers too!

I thought I'd do a little market research, I've just got a couple of questions:

What sort of things would you be interested in buying with my work on - postcards/ greetings cards/ stickers? - and would you prefer to buy sets or individually?

What illustrations would you like to see printed - Hexley work/ animals..?

Any feedback would be welcome! Thank you :)

Rabbit ACEOs No.32-37

A new set of rabbit ACEOs! All drawn in pen and pencil and painted in watercolours these were great fun to make :)

These are all part of my series started this year and are numbers 32 to 37.

I've started adding these original ACEOs to my Etsy shop, so if you don't see them there yet they should be soon.

Folksy shop!

Something I've been thinking about for a while now is whether it would be a good idea to open up a new online shop on a site like Folksy. I like Etsy and and am happy with my shop there, but I wonder if the fact it is only in US dollars might put some people off (even though Paypal handles currency conversions automatically).

This weekend I did some more research into Folksy. There seem to be pros and cons to Etsy and Folksy - Etsy is a bigger site with more members so more potential customers but it can be easy to get lost amongst all the other sellers. Folksy is smaller so although you are less likely to get lost there might not be so many customers. This was one thing I was concerned about - would there be enough people looking on Folksy to make it worth while listing? It seems that recently more people have been joining Folksy and they are coming out of beta testing at the end of the month. Also, although Folksy is limited to UK sellers only it does have a built in currency conversion for selling internationally. I think the forums could also be good on Folksy - more information relevent to UK sellers. So, I've decided to give it a go!

My new shop on Folksy is http://hazelfishercreations.folksy.com/ I will be selling prints and bookmarks at first and am in the process of stocking up the shop. Any other things like original ACEOs, magnets, crafting kits, vintage buttons etc will just be in my Etsy shop for now.

Has anyone else had experience with Folksy? It would be great to hear what you think! :)

Bookmarks

I've been making some new bookmarks featuring prints of my illustrations - they're so new that they aren't even in my shop yet! Here are a couple of photos:

The first bookmark features 3 different cats from my ACEOs

and this one features parts of my Hexley Diving Station, D.O.R.A. and Octopus illustrations.

The print size of each bookmark is approx. 2 x 6.5 inches (5x16.5cm). Both bookmarks are laminated and have tassels made from different textured fibres. Keep an eye out for these bookmarks and other appearing in my Etsy shop very soon! :)

Manningtree Easter Art Exhibition

This is the second year I have entered the Manningtree Easter Art Exhibition. The paintings were all delivered on Saturday - very exciting! Here are some photos of the work which will be on show:

'At the Auction' - pen and watercolour, based on several sketchs and a couple of photographs taken on my visits to the auction in Colchester. I've even put myself in the painting - sitting drawing at the back!

'Hexley Pier' - a new Hexley painting in pencil, watercolours and acrylics. The pier at Hexley is the perfect place for a walk on a nice sunny day - and if you are lucky you might spot one of the research vessels like D.O.R.A. in the distance! (Prints of this painting are now available in my Etsy shop.)
'The Zoo' - this group of small paintings in pencil, watercolours and acrylics was based on my photos taken at Colchester zoo.

The exhibition starts tomorrow at the Methodist Church, South Street, Manningtree. Opening times are:

Wednesday 31st March 2-6pm

Thursday 1st April 2-5pm

Friday 2nd April 2-5pm

Saturday 3rd April 10am-5pm

Sunday 4th April 2-5pm

Monday 5th April 10am-4pm

(There will be hundreds are pictures on all subjects and all works are for sale)

So if you are in the area please do go along!

ACEO 365 - No.17 - 23

Here's an update on more of my recent ACEOs :)

No.17 - Border Collie dog in pencil and watercolour (Sold)

No.18 - Arthur Brown, a resident of Hexley, works at the Climatology Centre and sits on the Town Council. Drawn in pencil and painted in watercolours and acrylics.

No.19 - Chimp in watercolours and Quink with dip pen/ ink line work.

No.20 - Squirrel drawn in pencil and painted in acrylics.

No.21 - British landscape in pencil, watercolours and acrylics (Sold)

No.22 - Hexley pier, pencil, watercolours and acrylics (I'm planning on painting a larger version of the Hexley pier too)

And finally No.23 - Emperor penguins; pen, watercolour and acrylics (Sold)

These ACEOs (unless marked as sold) are for sale in my Etsy shop. I will be listing prints of the penguins and squirrel but if there are any of my ACEOs you would like prints of which aren't listed in my shop please let me know!

The next ACEOs I'm starting are of a swan and another landscape. I always like receiving your comments/ feedback :) - what are your favourite ACEOs or is there anything you think would make a great subject which I haven't done yet??